China releases a new southern highbush BLUEBERRY cultivar - China obtiene una nueva variedad de ARÁNDANO alto del sur

New Chinese blueberry cultivar 'Xinxin 1' (Photo from Yan-qin et al., 2015)

'Xinxin 1' is a new Vaccinium corymbosum cultivar derived from cross breeding female parent ‘NC1074’ with male parent ‘US237’, released by the Institute of Botany，Jiangsu Province and Chinese Academy of Sciences，Nanjing，China). The male parent, ‘US237’, comes from crossing ‘Fla.4A’ (V. darrowii）× ‘Bluecrop’（V. corymbosum).

Fruit size is medium and average fruit weight is 1.22 g. Quality of the fruit is firm and has small picking scars. The berry is dark blue and has heavy fruit wax. The flavor is sweet-sour. Berries mature in early June in Nanjing area. It has high yield and a strong adaptability for high temperature and wet climate of summer and heavy soil in southern part of Jiangsu Province.

Blueberry consumption in China is growing up. There is increasing urbanization with over 200 cities of more than one million inhabitants. China also has significant growth in purchasing power with a growing middle class, and a public concerned with its health, safety and product traceability,

Sources: Jiang Yan-qin, Wei Ji-guang, Zeng Qi-long, Yu Hong (2015). Acta Horticulturae Sinica (http: //www. ahs. ac. cn); and Álvaro Aspée (http://www.freshfruitportal.com)